1. Field of Invention
The disclosed invention is a novel catnip-filled toy for cats.
More particularly the invention relates to a catnip-filled toy that can be easily made to spin, rock, wobble, slide, and roll on a surface such as a smooth floor, that can be bitten and picked up by the cat, as well, and that may be easily refilled by the owner with fresh catnip.
2. Description of Prior Art
The scent of catnip has been shown to arouse and excite cats and increase their playfulness. Numerous toys exist that are filled with catnip; most of those catnip-filled toys being made of cloth that is stitched together and stuffed with catnip, in much the same manner as a pillow or a cushion is filled with soft material. While such catnip-filled toys may be clawed, bitten, batted, and carried around by cats, they do not allow the cat to effectively spin, rock, and roll the toy on the floor, and so their play value is thereby limited.
Catnip loses much of its scent over time and, as the scent fades, a catnip-filled toy will tend to become less attractive to a cat. Therefore it is of value to replace the old catnip with fresh catnip.
Catnip toys that are stitched together such as U.S. Pat. No. Des. 308,557 to Reese do not allow the owners to easily replace the old catnip with fresh catnip, as doing so would require cutting open the toys to remove the old catnip and then stitching them back together after filling them with fresh catnip.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,682,838 to Reich shows a cat toy which may be refilled more easily than other sewn catnip-filled toys due to the fact that it can be opened and closed using hook and loop fastening, however being made of soft fabric, it lacks a regular, hard molded outer surface that would allow the device to spin and roll easily and freely on a smooth surface when batted by the paw of a cat.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,632 to Gordon teaches a catnip-filled toy for cats that lacks the convex hub of the present invention and therefore is not well suited for spinning and cannot be moved in a rocking motion. In addition, Gordon's device does not allow easy refilling by the user with fresh catnip.
U.S. Pat. No. Des. 380,879 to Hernandez shows a weighted catnip-filled toy which may be moved in a rocking motion, but cannot be rolled across the floor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,127 to Leopold shows a device that is mainly for scratching and clawing and cannot be moved about on the floor or picked up by the cat because it is mounted in place.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,006,182 to Cousin teaches a refillable catnip toy with an eccentrically located cavity that causes it to roll with an erratic motion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,256 to Viola teaches a cat toy which can be effectively moved about on the floor by cats in a wide variety of play patterns, but it is cannot be filled with catnip.